Swansea City Move A Big Step Closer To Survival!

Goals from Fernando Llorente and Kyle Naughton gave the Swans a huge 2-0 win away at Sunderland, piling more pressure on Hull City as Clement's side moved 4 points clear of the drop.

That of course means the Tigers have to beat Crystal Palace on Sunday - otherwise their relegation will be confirmed before the final game of the season.

Palace too will be playing to confirm their survival as they're currently on 38 points, equal with the Swans.

Backed by around 3,000 fans at the Stadium of Light, thanks to Leon Britton's idea for the players to fund the ticket bill, while the club also paid for £5.50 food and drink vouchers per fan, Swansea City got off to the perfect start, as 9 minutes in - Fernando Llorente took advantage of a goalkeeping error to head home Sigurdsson's long range free-kick from the right.

Pickford came out for the ball, but the Spanish striker beat him in the air to send the ball into an empty net.

From then on, the Swans looked like the home side for most of the first half. They were dominating spells of possession, making good, quick, sharp passes without looking too threatening after the opening goal.

Sunderland, meanwhile, recorded more shots on target in both halves but the majority of those were half chances, and other than that, they showed plenty of signs as to what's been their downfall this season.

A complete lack of confidence, some questionable decisions throughout the game, mainly confusing passes that ended spells of possession, and their discipline was also lacking as they became more and more frustrating as the game went on.

The second goal was crucial, and it came in first half stoppage time. Ki sent Kyle Naughton free down the right, and after taking a couple of touches, he fired in a superb shot into the far top corner of the net.

A 2-goal lead going in at half time was exactly what we needed, but the second half still proved to be quite nervy to watch as Sunderland dominated possession as they looked for a way to get back into the match.

The Swans, as you'd expect by now, sat a little deeper, invited more pressure, but they were very organised and defensively compact. Fabianski parrying a long range shot and the rebound failing to convert was the main big scare for us as we looked to defend out the rest of the game and claim a 2-0 win.

Clement's switch to a diamond 4-4-2 formation has worked wonders, and together with Leon Britton's return to the starting line-up, has been crucial to our improved form. Like it at Manchester United, the system gave us an advantage in the middle of the pitch, and both Naughton and Olsson did a good job of providing attacking width.

Sunderland made a switch to overcome this in the second half, and it allowed them to take more control in the game, but the Swans were later to happy to defend and keep them at arms length - defending mostly in a 4-5-1 system.

It was another thoroughly professional job by Clement's side, who quickly saluted the superb travelling support after the game, who will watch tomorrow's game with interest as Crystal Palace aim to confirm safety against Hull.

Comments

0

Yes thoroughly professional sums this game up perfectly. We controlled the first half, scored two goals and then sat back and soaked up anything Sunderland could muster. Makes you think what points we would be on if Clement was appointed and not Bradley. Full credit to out manager though..he deserves his bonus if and when we get over the line which I think is a certainty now. I have to admit being totally wrong after the March results, it seemed desperate then but hard work and determination has turned it round.